John Wise, 29

Cofounder, Lovepop

A naval architect and graduate of Harvard Business School, Wise cofounded Boston-based greeting card company Lovepop with pal Wombi Rose, 30, in 2014. On a trip to Vietnam, they discovered kirigami, paper art similar to origami that entails cutting. They developed a technology called Slicegami to create elaborate paper sculptures they use in their 3-D cards. In 2015 they appeared on Shark Tank. From $1.5 million in 2015, revenue shot to $7 million in 2016.